Saturday, 18 January 2014

Episode the Third

Having done an inside job trashing Pope Pius XII ( Hitler's Pope with the great cover of Eugenio Pacelli during the Weimar Republic, see the CTS pamphlet if you are in need of facts ) and Blessed John Paul II ( The Pope in Winter as opposed to A Man for All Seasons?), it's now time to turn on the sacraments.

The Dark Box: Confession in the Catholic ChurchBy John Cornwell.

This is how Amazon UK describe the book, in case you think I'm being very rude about a book I have not even read.

Would you tell your deepest secrets to a relative stranger? And if you did, would you feel vulnerable? Cleansed? Or perhaps even worse than you did before?

Confession has always performed a complex role in society, always created mixed feelings in its practitioners. As an acknowledgement of sinfulness, it can provide immense psychological relief; but while aiming to replace remorse with innocence, its history has become inextricably intertwined with eroticism and shame.

The Dark Box is an erudite and personal history; Cornwell draws on his own memories of Catholic boyhood, and weaves it with the story of confession from its origins in the early church to the current day, where its enduring psychological potency is evidenced by everything from the Vatican's 'confession app' to Oprah Winfrey's talk shows. Since the 16th century, seclusion of two individuals in the intimate 'dark box', often discussing sexual actions and thoughts, has eroticised the experience of confession. When, in 1905, Pius X made confession a weekly, rather than yearly ritual, the horrific cases of child abuse which have haunted the Catholic church in the twentieth century became possible.

It is published on 20 Feb.

My reponse? I'll just carry on joining that queue of people going to Confession.

And book review bingo. When it comes out I'll see if anyone who actually goes to Confession reviews it.